Possibly one of the funniest and yet informative video reviews ever of Eve Online is the very amusing review by Yahtzee from The Escapist.

Personally I think Eve Online is the most challenging, engaging and interesting MMO games available today. Having been a player for over four years now, I still find that I am just scratching the service in terms of finding things to keep me entertained - and keep me paying my subscription.

But here’s the video - it’s still a classic.

I’ve been avoiding this title for a couple of reasons:

1) I don’t need another FPS game
2) I tend to avoid real-war based FPS games recently due to them being done to death
3) I didnt want to spend the $85 on a new title

However, I had read a lot of really impressive stuff about the new game, and the fact that it wasn’t WWII based, but set in a Modern Theatre of War interested me.

So I downloaded it from Steam the other night and fired it up. This was at about 9pm, so I fugured I’d just do the intro mission and pick up from there on the weekend.

(time passes.. dinner is missed.. Wife went to bed.. Is that the Sun coming up?)

At 4am I blinked slowly as the game ended in one of the most cinematically pleasing and emotion filled scenes (for a war game) that I have ever played. It was even better than the ending to Half Life 2.

CoD4 is a seriously great game. My only quibble is that the single player campaign is very short (5-8 hours). But the sheer quality of the campaign makes up for this. I will always appreciate quality of quantity, and the fact that the campaign is the most intrguing, immersive and fun one that I have ever played makes up for the really quick Single player component.

I wont give away any spoilers, but basically you take on several roles during the game. At one point you are the President of some middle eastern country which has just undergone a revolt. You are dragged into a car, and driven through the burning city as the games opening credits roll in like a James Bond movie. You are then taken to the rebel leaders building and executed on Live TV. It’s at this point that you start really playing the game, in the avatars of a SAS Soldier and a Marine. You flip from one to the other during the storlines.

You get to play with a wide variety of realistic weapons, from knives, Pistols, Rifles, Machine Guns and one very cool Javelin personal missile system.

The plot is intense, and doesnt bog you down with too much detail or poitics. You get given enough that you have a good understanding of the mission you are on, and the backing music is just fantastic.

The game plays like a movie - and some of the scenes are interactive that you feel like your in a Raiders of the Lost arc movie.

All in all, this is by far the best FPS single player game i have ever played - beating my previousd Half Life 2. I havnt even tried the Multiplayer aspect yet, but am told there are oodles of unlockable skills, weapons and classes.

All in all, Im giving the game a 9 out of 10. Had it been a longer Single Player campaign, it would have gotten the extra point. But all in all, I think this game was made for online play.

9/10